Book Review: Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner

Posted on by Libby Price

missing-presumed

“A MISSING GIRL
Edith Hind is gone, leaving just her coat, a smear of blood and a half-open door.

A DESPERATE FAMILY
Each of her friends and relatives has a version of the truth. But none quite adds up.

A DETECTIVE AT BREAKING POINT
The press grows hungrier by the day. Can DS Manon Bradshaw fend them off, before a missing persons case becomes a murder investigation?”

I love a good thriller – and I loved this book! (Before knowing it was a Richard and Judy  bookclub book, but I still liked it!!)

It’s a crime drama – in a TV Silent Witness etc style – where the crime is the central piece, but you get to know the police involved and the family of the victim really well.

I really liked all of the characters (apart from maybe the victim) and felt their characters were really well fleshed out.

It twists and turns and keeps you interested throughout.

I felt the police protocol / investigation was true to life (in the fact that it wasn’t all exciting – it had moments of complete dullness) but I also liked the way that there were funny interludes (internet dating, kid stuff) that lightened the mood / made everything more interesting!!

I often don’t read the ‘interview with the author’ at the end of a book – but did on this occasion (possibly because I had it as a hard copy not just as a download) and I am so pleased  I did – firstly because it was interesting hearing from the author – and secondly because I found out there was a sequel which I am super chuffed about!!  This book concluded well as a stand alone – but I LOVE finding out what happens to characters in the future of books I’ve really enjoyed.

I also think I will hunt out Susie Steiner’s back catalogue as it was written so well.

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Posted on by Libby Price

I’ve mentioned before that I have a friend in the publishing industry who sometimes lets me have sneak previews of books (she’s ace!) and this is the one I had to take on my summer holiday.  Both the lender, and a couple of other friends who’d read it RAVED – so I had high expectations – and I was not disappointed!

Eleanor Oliphant

Usually I quote Amazon blurb here – but this book isn’t out until early 2017 – however with a small amount of Googling I found these quotes:

Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency: “Eleanor Oliphant is a bit of an odd ball. She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. That, combined with her unusual appearance (scarred cheek, sometime wearer of an eczema glove), means that Eleanor has become a bit of a loner – or ‘self-contained entity’ as she calls it. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life and phone chats with ‘Mummy’ (in prison for crimes unknown).

But everything changes when Eleanor falls for the local Hipster-band frontman, Johnnie Rivers. As Eleanor prepares herself for her inevitable union with the object of her desire (appropriate attire, new laptop for Instagram stalking), she inadvertently befriends the new guy from her office, Raymond.

As Eleanor navigates the waters of obsessive love and her long-distance relationship with ‘Mummy’, she realises she can only overcome the horrors of her past if she accepts a little help from Raymond…

Filled with unabashed wit, Eleanor Oliphant follows its quirky and troubled female narrator as she realises that the only way to survive her current state of mind is to open her heart to friendship”

 

Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge “I hadn’t been expecting it to happen that night, not at all. It hit me all the harder because of that. I’m someone who likes to plan things properly, prepare in advance and be organised. This came out of nowhere; it felt like a slap in the face, a punch to the gut, a burning.

I’d asked Billy to come along with me, mainly because he was the youngest person in the office; for that reason, I assumed he’d like the music. I heard the others teasing him about it when they thought I was out at lunch, sniggering like schoolgirls. I suppose I could have gone alone. It’s just that I’m very, very tired of always doing things alone. I knew nothing about the concert, hadn’t heard of the band. I was going out of a sense of duty, because I’d won the tickets; they were donated to the Christmas charity raffle, and I knew people would ask about it when the email went round the office.

Billy had a pint and I was drinking sour white wine, warm and tainted by the plastic glasses they made us take into the hall. What savages they must think us! Billy had bought the round, to thank me for inviting him. There was no question of it being a date – we looked like mother and son on an outing.  I suspected he preferred boys anyway.

We drank from the plastic glasses, got comfortable in our seats as the lights went down. Billy hadn’t wanted to watch the support act, but I insisted. Everyone supported someone else at one time, back before they made it big themselves. You never know if you’ll be bearing witness as a new star emerges, never know who’s going to walk onto the stage and blow you away.

He walked onto the stage and blew me away.”

 

Harper Collins Indie Thinking: “Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend.

Eleanor Oliphant is fine. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except sometimes, everything.

No-one’s ever told Eleanor life should be better than fine.
But with a simple act of kindness she’s about to realise exactly how much better than fine life can be.”

 

Without doubt this is the best and most different book I have read in a long time.  It is quite simply brilliant.

I admit to bonding a little bit more than I should with Eleanor over our similarities (we both work in accounts, we both sport eczema gloves now and then for our scabby hands, amongst other things) – but the one paragraph that had me totally nodding in agreement with was about sport.

“Sport is a mystery to me.  In primary school, sports day was the one day of the year when the least academically gifted students could triumph, winning prizes form jumping fastest in a sack, or running from Point A to Point B more quickly than their classmates.  How they loved to wear those badges on their blazers the next day! As if a silver in the egg and spoon race was some sort of compensation for not understanding how to use an apostrophe.”

Eleanor is just such a lovely central character and the book is told totally from her perspective – which is, admittedly, not the most normal of perspectives in many ways.

This is a debut novel for the Scottish writer Gail Honeyman – and my earlier Google stalking found out that it’s been sold for a huge sum – and rightly so. This could very well end up being a film – move over Bridget Jones – Eleanor Oliphant is in the house!

I don’t want to write much more – as you need to get to know Eleanor yourself, that’s the whole point of the book – but

YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!!!

 

 

 

Embarrassing mother award to me!!

Posted on by Libby Price

The eldest daughter, about whom this tale is based, is mortified I’ve sent the below email – and her younger brother is embarrassed even though he goes to another school!  So what do I do??

Blog about it to see what everyone else thinks! I think I’m totes hilarious (which clearly is part of the problem for the teenager!!)

To set the scene, she started a new school in September in Year 9 (where most of the rest of the year have been there since Year 7) and has been put in the 2nd of 6 maths sets.  She has always enjoyed and been good at maths (definitely one of the many reasons it’s evident she’s my daughter) and is keen to do further maths GCSE – which you have to be in the top set to be allowed to sit.

maths

So here is an extract from my email to her maths teacher – embarrassing mother award to me or what?!?

“We were delighted to hear that D had done so well in the recent maths test (although will be asking her to explain the 6 of the 117 marks she lost!!!)

As we mentioned to you at parents’ evening, D is keen to do further maths at GCSE, but you said that was only possible if she was in top set.  I understand from D, which admittedly is only anecdotal evidence, and only from a small sample of the top set, that her result in this test far exceeded some of those in top set.  I also understand that in recent tests for the 2nd set, her results have been significantly higher than the mode, mean and median for the set!”

Book Review: Maestra by L S Hilton

Posted on by Libby Price

maestra

“THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER
WHERE DO YOU GO WHEN YOU’VE GONE TOO FAR?
Fatal Attraction meets The Talented Mr Ripley, and soon to be a major Hollywood film – prepare for this year’s The Girl on the Train
By day Judith Rashleigh is a put-upon assistant at a London auction house.
By night she’s a hostess in one of the capital’s unsavoury bars.
Desperate to make something of herself, Judith knows she has to play the game. She’s learned to dress, speak and act in the interests of men. She’s learned to be a good girl. But after uncovering a dark secret at the heart of the art world, Judith is fired and her dreams of a better life are torn apart.
So she turns to a long-neglected friend.
A friend that kept her chin up and back straight through every past slight.
A friend that a good girl like her shouldn’t have: Rage.
The Talented Mr Ripley meets Gone Girl in this darkly decadent and compelling new thriller that asks:
Where do you go when you’ve gone too far?”

First things first – this book is VERY sexually explicit.  The prologue is set at a sex party, and the C word (the really rude one, not Christmas) is used in a gynaecological sense on page 2.  This sets the tone for the book, so if that’s not your bag, I would suggest you don’t even start reading this book.

It follows Judith (although she has other guises too) as the central character – but I have to say, I didn’t really like her.  I’m not sure I particularly liked anyone in the book at all!  Which does tie in with people comparing it to Gone Girl (although I’m not sure that was the reasoning for the comparison on the cover #everyoneisunlikeable)

The book jumps between fabulous locations – London, the French Riviera, Lake Como, Rome, Geneva, Paris – and you could almost see it being made a film (and I believe the film rights have already been sold).  Lots of the characters have fabulous lifestyles (materialistically at least #deep)with the author describing art in a very knowledgeable way – along with the clothes Judith wears – almost with a similar reverence.

I haven’t read 50 Shades (deliberately!) but from what I’ve heard (and who hasn’t heard) I think this seems to be trying to be a more cultured version of that – but with just as explicit sex scenes – wrapped up in a more highbrow arena, and with a female protagonist.

I was intrigued to find out what happened next and how the story developed – but I didn’t love this book.  I found the sex scenes a bit forced, almost as if they’d been written separately and slotted in to the book at various points to tick that box.  I also felt like the author was a bit ‘superior’ just in little things such as calling the Mona Lisa ‘La Gioconda’ – now, I know that’s the painting’s real name (although only because we went to see it in October!) but it’s not what people usually call it.

I also wouldn’t say it was a ‘thriller’ really – it was interconnecting stories of altogether not very nice people, with the link being artwork…….

All in all the book was ok – but I think has been totally over hyped in the press, and is a bit disturbing to be honest.

There is a sneak preview of the next book (it’s going to be a trilogy) at the end – and Judith is now masquerading as Elisabeth (with an S – like me!) – but even that may not tempt me to read it…….

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contacts, contacts everywhere…..

Posted on by Libby Price

I have 4 children (some would say 5 if you count the husband!) and that’s a lot of social lives to organise.  Because I rarely do the school run (God bless our nanny) I’m a bit rubbish with the names of the parents of my younger 2’s friends.  In fact, the older 2 have started new schools and get themselves to and from school once they’ve been dropped at the train station – so I’m quite rubbish with the parents of their new friends too!

I started saving all of their friend’s parents’ (generally Mums) names in my phone with a cross reference to the child’s name.  But now the kids have friends with the same names.  So I have to put in:

The Mum’s name
Their child’s name
The name of my child to whom this friend relates

Honestly – it’s logistically crazy, and my contacts are overflowing!

 

 

Losing at footwear ownership….

Posted on by Libby Price

Earlier this year I posted about Winning At School Shoe Shopping and was quite smug about the whole thing.

Yep – well strike that smugness based on the last week.

First, the boy managed to lose his boot bag containing a pair of rugby boots and 2 mouth guards, leaving them at the school playing fields after rugby training.  We tried both visits and calls afterwards and they couldn’t be found – so with an impending match on Friday, we did a post school dash to buy boots and a new mouthguard last Thursday night.  Law of sod – the original boot bag turned up on Friday!

On to Friday.  He got changed into his kit at school to head off to an away game (which they won!) but when he came home it was apparent he’d lost his school shoes and coat.  He ‘thought’ they were at school – but couldn’t be sure – so the weekend saw a trip to the local shoe shop to buy another pair (he already had a spare coat from a previous incident) – on the basis that a spare pair may well prove useful in the future even if the original ones turned up (which obviously they did on Monday morning).

This evening I get a phone call from eldest daughter to say that she’s lost one of her shoes on to the TRAIN TRACK at the station.  Needless to say I was less than impressed (although apparently she wasn’t messing about, it just fell off her foot when she tripped up and it ended up going over the edge all by itself ……..)  So the husband did a mercy dash with her to the shoe shop again (thank goodness they’ve had 10% off for Black Friday deals all weekend, so it’s marginally less painful).School shoes

 

This isn’t a photograph of her school shoe – but I’m thinking maybe she should be threatened with this option if she loses another one……….

I need to record things like this that make me *quite cross* so that I can reminisce about them fondly in the future.  Just not quite yet!

 

 

 

Book Review: Hurrah for Gin: A book for perfectly imperfect parents by Katie Kirby

Posted on by Libby Price

hurrah-fro-gin

“This book is not a how-to-guide. It won’t tell you how to get your baby to sleep, how to deal with toddler tantrums, how to be a good parent, a cool parent or even a renegade parent. It is a book about parenting that contains absolutely no useful advice whatsoever.
Instead it shares beautifully honest anecdotes and illustrations from the parenting frontline that demonstrate it is perfectly possible to love your children with the whole of your heart whilst finding them incredibly irritating at the same time.
From pregnancy to starting school, Hurrah For Gin takes you through the exciting, frustrating, infuriating and wonderful whirlwind of parenthood, offering solidarity and a friendly hug after a tough day.
Best served with gin.”

As a mother of 4 kids ranging in age from 13 down to 5, I suspect that both my kids and I are slightly older than target market for this – but I’ve enjoyed following ‘Hurrah for Gin’ on Facebook and Twitter and so bought the book as soon as it came out!  For once I bought an actual physical hard copy as I wasn’t sure how the illustrations would work on a Kindle (does anyone know???)

Between buying the book and actually getting chance to read it (back to those 4 kids again) I decided to take a huge step back in my drinking (as I’d recognised that daily imbibing was probably not good for my health, waistline or parenting) and so I was concerned that the book might have me reaching for the gin in solidarity – and whilst the blurb does conclude ‘best served with gin’ – I can confirm that it is not entirely necessary and the book is still very enjoyable.

As the blurb also says, this is not a ‘how to’ guide – this is not going to tell you when your child should be sleeping, how they should be swaddled, when you should eat, the routines you should have at each week change etc (not naming any names here – but I reckon many of you will guess!!) – but it does give you an honest account of what it’s like to be in charge of small human beings – and the fact that they can drive you to booze!

NOTHING like this existed back when I had my eldest – but I was very lucky to have friends who also had kids at a similar time who also admitted that sometimes things were a bit sh*t.  Now – with the internet being much more widely used for blogs etc (honestly – I make it sound like I had my eldest daughter in the stone age – but there was no Sky+ and no handy pouches of food for goodness sake – let along proper social media to tit about on during a night feed) I think people generally do share more – and Hurrah for Gin is one of the stars of this – and this book is an extension of that.

Some of the content in the book I’d already seen on Hurrah for Gin’s social media pages – but there was plenty of new stuff to entertain as well.  So much of it had me nodding in agreement – and reminiscing (potentially through slightly rose tinted spectacles) about the newborn years (although not enough to make me consider having a 5th!)

There were also sections that made me weep, proper upset tears not just reminiscing tears, although there were those too.

The stick character illustrations are great and add to the anecdotes brilliantly.

Overall I really enjoyed this and would concur whole heartedly with Katie that it is possible to love your children with the whole of your heart whilst still finding them incredibly irritating at the same time.

This would make a PERFECT present for a new Mum – so that she knows she’s not alone.  Perhaps with an accompanying bottle of gin?!

 

 

 

 

Book Review: We Were On A Break by Lindsey Kelk

Posted on by Libby Price

we-were-on-a-break

I had seen this book around (probably Red Magazine and Twitter – but those are guesses, just my usual sources of book advice) and was v keen to read it just because of the title as:

a) It’s one of the most memorable ‘Friends’ quotes ever
b) I was the other party in a ‘they were on a break’ issue back in 1999 after having a holiday dalliance (holiday ‘romance’ would be pushing it) with a guy who was ‘on a break’ from his girlfriend.  She is now his wife and mother of his children, and I am happily married with my own gaggle of children, but even 17 years on she can’t speak to me and struggles to even look at me.  #awkward

Anyway, my dealer (of books rather than any other substance) offered me a copy to take to Disneyland Paris with me – which sounded like a very good plan (anything to dilute Disney is a good plan).

Amazon appears to be scant on blurb – so this is from the back of the book (which means I actually have to type it and not cut and paste #commitment)

“There’s nothing worse than the last day of holiday. Oh wait, there is.  When what should have been a proposal turns into a break, Liv and Adam find themselves on opposite sides of the life they had mapped out.
Friends and family all think they’re crazy; Liv throws herself into work – animals are so much simpler than humans – and Adam tries to get himself out of the hole he’s dug.  But as the short break becomes a chasm, can the find a way back to each other?
More importantly, do they want to?”

Heads up – I absolutely LOVED this book from the off!  It is told from both Liv and Adam’s points of view (and this confused me the first time it switched – but there may have been wine involved) and I really liked both characters.

It is funny, well written, emotional, true to life and with really relevant reference points (I’m assuming it’s true that you’re more likely to be murdered by your Uber driver home than the internet date you’ve met in a bar?!)  The supporting cast of family and friends are great too – all very different but well fleshed out and interesting, and not predictable. In a ‘style of Bridget Jones’ you expect that David the veterinary nurse will turn out to be Liv’s gay BFF – but he most definitely isn’t (despite the Kardashian love / hate) – and one of her best friend’s Cass, is something of a ‘smug married’ but then ‘goes the full 2007 Brittany on the situation’ (which is a quote I hope to use in the near future as it’s so excellent!).

It reminded me very much of the style of Mhairi McFarlane whom I have sworn allegiance to before (and from a small amount of Twitter stalking it would appear that Ms Kelk and Ms McFarlane were recently out together with Giovanna Fletcher too #welljel #Iwanttobeintheirsquad)

The book twists and turns and keeps you interested in what is going to happen to Liv and Adam and Daniel Craig (the cat, not the actor).

I am suffering with the worst ever cough (I’m blaming Mickey Mouse for the germs and wondering if Lionel Messi is also suffering) – but the one benefit of being unable to sleep and having to sit up all bl**dy night is that I’ve been able to read this fantastic book.  I am DELIGHTED that there is a plentiful back catalogue of other books by Lindsey Kelk and proposed downloading many to my Kindle right now!

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Of Marrigeagable Age by Sharon Maas

Posted on by Libby Price

 

of-marriageable-age

“A spellbinding story of forbidden love. Three continents, three decades, three very disparate lives:
Savitri, intuitive and charismatic, grows up among the servants of a pre-war English household in Madras. But the traditional customs of her Brahmin family clash against English upper-class prejudice, threatening her love for the privileged son of the house.
Nataraj, raised as the son of an idealistic doctor in rural South India, finds life in London heady, with girls and grass easily available… until he is summoned back home to face raw reality.
Saroj, her fire hidden by outward reserve, comes of age in Guyana, South America. When her strict, orthodox Hindu father goes one step too far she finally rebels against him… and even against her gentle, apparently docile Ma.
But Ma harbours a deep secret… one that binds these three so disparate lives and hurtles them towards a truth that could destroy their world.”

I read a previous book by Sharon Maas last year and really enjoyed it, and downloaded this not long afterwards – but it has sat on my Kindle since then, and I finally started reading it recently.

As with the Small Fortune of Dorothea Q, the previous book I’d read by this author, it’s set across multiple time periods and locations. Having friends of Indian and Guyanese heritage this really appealed – especially learning about some of the massive racial tensions there were in Guyana between different factions and religions.

It was evident early on that there were to be connections between the 3 different stories that were being told – but right until the end of the book these don’t become totally clear – and it really kept me intrigued.  I kept thinking I was so clever I had it all sussed, for there to be another twist or turn.

I enjoyed the book both as a stand alone story book of family life, love, career and choices – but also I found that I enjoyed being educated about different cultures, time periods and experiences.  It was beautifully written really evoking the different settings geographically.  India has long been on our ‘to visit’ list, and I might just have to add Guyana to that list now too!

 

 

Disneyland Paris – day 5!

Posted on by Libby Price

Our last day in Paris – and the husband’s birthday!  He got to wear a Disney badge proclaiming this all day!!

After packing, breakfast and checking out we decided that the one thing we hadn’t done were any of the shows at Walt Disney Studios – so after a quick Fastpass on Ratatouille (yet again, it’s the youngest’s favourite!) and the magic carpets we headed to Moteur – Action!  Stunt Show Spectacular – and the name was very correct – it was really spectacular.  The 11 year old in particular really enjoyed it.

stunt-show

It was supposed to last 35 minutes – so we hoped to whizz straight from there to Disney Junior Live (run in English and French at different times).  However time was ticking by so the husband and girls tried to escape leaving me and the boy there – but the French security team were having none of it.  There was lots of Gallic shrugging – and ‘computer says no’.  I assume it was health and safety (although goodness knows why, as the way out was nowhere near the vehicles!)  Anyway – that meant we missed Disney Junior which prompted a 4 year old’s strop!

Thankfully we spotted that Stitch Live was on and so attempted to placate her with that (again it runs in English and French throughout the day).  It was actually surprisingly good!  Stitch was animated, but there was a real life person in the room being his assistant.  Initially I assumed that there were standard questions Stitch would ask – but it was actually really clever, and the person voicing him could obviously see the audience – and deviated with different conversations – and all in all it was really impressive!  A surprise hit with the Price family.

Then we let Daddy chose the restaurant – and we went to Bistro Chez Remy right by the Ratatouille ride – and supposedly the rat’s restaurant and you magically became smaller as you went in (or as the 4 year old pointed out ‘they’ve just made everything else seem really big’!!)

cork

The food – and drinks – were great!  And the whole family were content as the grown up food was delicious, and there were fries for the kids #winwin.  They made a fuss of the birthday boy – and even wrote a special message on his pudding (happy birthday – not anything else – that would have been weird!!)

On the way out the 6 year old was given a Minnie Mouse balloon by a random couple – still not entirely sure why (she was given sweets by a man on the train the day before, so she must have a face for gifts!!)  As we were about to head off to the airport we couldn’t really take it with us – so the kids asked if we could send it up to the sky to Nanny Carol (my mother in law who passed away in 2002).  It seemed like a particularly apt thing to do, given 45 years ago Nanny Carol had been giving birth to their Daddy (cue hysterical weeping from me!!)

balloon

And that’s pretty much a perfect way to end our few days in Disneyland Paris.
Creating magical memories with my family has been wonderful.